Quote:
Originally Posted by Clammer
its been a long time since RI has gone over on Bass ..the last 4 seasons . they kept the fall season open cuz they couldn,t fill it . I believe @ least two of the seasons they let another fishery in to fill it ><><><><  |
I think RI stays the line a bit better due to the fact there isn't a huge influx of fish all at once. The 5 fish daily limit almost certainly assures this won't happen. There's also less ground covered too in terms of where the fish are harvested and most of the participants are RI residents.
With Mass there's a sizable portion of the quota that's taken well outside Mass waters. Its a literal free for all.
One fish house I visited this summer had 30 very large fish which averaged around 30# plus each. They were all harvested by the same guy. This wasn't the work of an extraordinarily skilled pinhooker, but the work of a skilled spearfisher who culled the fish for size by visually picking out the select fish from the school, shooting them, then brought them into Mass from CT to sell. Every fish had a quarter sized bullet hole just behind the gill plate from the dart. To be honest with everyone, I really don't have a huge issue with this stuff provided the fish go against the 1.1 million pound quota. I mean, the regulators allow for the removal of 1.1 million pounds of fish from the biomass, so does it really matter how they get harvested? Yes its illegal, but the regulation of this fishery has to change at the top, not with the end user...otherwise the abuse will always happen... and it takes on countless forms.